Resentment is the spitefulness. In the worldly life it may apply to those who exerted their best efforts to reach expert opinions about certain matters and came to different conclusions. While in Paradise, this resentment and spitefulness that was there in the worldly life as a result of their different conclusions, will be removed. Allah (swt) says: (And We will have removed) because it is removed by force.
(تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهِمُ الْأَنْهَارُ) ([while] flowing beneath them are rivers): They are in Paradise with lofty shadows are lofty and flowing rivers beneath them.
( وَقَالُوا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي هَدَانَا لِهَٰذَا) (And they will say, “Praise to Allah, who has guided us to this): In the worldly life, giving praise to Allah (swt) is an obligatory act of whorship. Allah (swt) says:
وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
(And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor];) (Ibrahim: 7)
In this verse of Surah Al-A’raaf, thanking Allah (swt) is out of satisfaction and joy. They will praise Allah (swt) for having guided them to this and lead them to the place they are in, which is Paradise.
( وَمَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِيَ لَوْلَا أَنْ هَدَانَا اللَّهُ) (and we would never have been guided if Allah had not guided us): Meaning, we do not reach Paradise through our deeds, but rather by Allah’s (swt) Mercy. Had Allah (swt) not guided us, we would never have found the way. In general, guidance comes from Allah (swt), when a person moves in the direction of guidance by his will, this is Directional Guidance. As for the Guidance of Support which lead to Paradise, it is through the Mercy of Allah (swt). The Prophet (saws) said:
“None of you can achieve salvation through his (good) actions.” Someone asked, “Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?” He (saws) said, “Not even me, unless Allah grants me His Mercy and Grace”.
Hence, no matter how many good deeds we perform, they will never be enough to fulfil part of our debt to Allah (swt) and we will forever fall short in this regard. This is why He (swt) lets us into Paradise with His (swt) Mercy. Allah (swt) says:
وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ (39) وَأَنَّ سَعْيَهُ سَوْفَ يُرَىٰ (40) ثُمَّ يُجْزَاهُ الْجَزَاءَ الْأَوْفَىٰ (41)
((39) And that there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives (40) And that his effort is going to be seen (41) Then he will be recompensed for it with the fullest recompense) (An-Najm: 41)
Whatever we do, we still need Allah’s (swt) Mercy to reach Paradise.
( لَقَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِالْحَقِّ) (Certainly the messengers of our Lord had come with the truth): They have brought forth the Way of Guidance, this is why we should follow what the Messenger (saws) brought to us. They said: “We have followed our Prophets, and what they were sent with is the Truth. this is why we reached the place we are now in”.
( وَنُودُوا ) (And they will be called): The Angels will call them.
(أَن تِلْكُمُ الْجَنَّةُ أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ) (“This is Paradise, which you have been made to inherit for what you used to do.”): The word (inhert) signifies that property has passed on from one person to another. They inherited it because of how they behaved, since it is the deeds that lead to Paradise. But we will only enter it with Allah’s (swt) Mercy because He (swt) is the One Who made Paradise as the reward. There is no contradiction here, for in the Day of Resurrection, all what we did in this life will be accounted for, if the good deeds are more than bad deeds, then the reward will be the Paradise. It is Allah (swt) who set this rule and He (swt) is the One Who graced us with guidance and sent us Messengers (PBUT). Without Allah (swt) we would not have been guided nor would we have been allowed to enter Paradise.